Sci Eng Compos Mater 2021; 28:96–106
Research Article
Guo-min Xu and Chang-geng Shuai*
Axial and lateral stiffness of spherical
self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes under
internal pressure
https://doi.org/10.1515/secm-2021-0009
Received Nov 22, 2020; accepted Jan 13, 2021
Abstract: Fiber reinforced rubber pipes are widely used to
transport fluid at locations requiring flexible connections
in pipeline systems. The spherical self-balancing fiber rein-
forced rubber pipes with low stiffness are drawing attention
because of their vibration suppression performance under
high internal pressure. In this paper, a theoretical model is
proposed to calculate the axial stiffness and lateral stiffness
of spherical self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes.
The inhomogeneous anisotropy of the reinforced layer and
the nonlinear stress-strain relationship of the reinforced
fiber are considered in the model. The accuracy of the model
is verified by experimental results. Theoretical calculation
finds that both the axial and lateral stiffness are influenced
significantly by the key structural parameters of the pipe
(the axial length, the circumferential radius at the end, the
meridional radius, and the initial winding angle). The stiff-
ness can be reduced remarkably with optimal meridional
radius and initial winding angle, without any side effect
on the self-balance of the pipe. The investigation methods
and results presented in this paper will provide guidance
for design of fiber reinforced rubber pipes in the future.
Keywords: fiber reinforced rubber pipe; axial stiffness; lat-
eral stiffness; composite membrane; Timoshenko beam;
winding angle
*Corresponding Author: Chang-geng Shuai: Institute of Noise &
Vibration, Naval University of Engineering, Wuhan 430033, China;
National Key Laboratory on Ship Vibration & Noise, Wuhan 430033,
China; Email: chgshuai@yeah.net
Guo-min Xu: Institute of Noise & Vibration, Naval University of
Engineering, Wuhan 430033, China; National Key Laboratory on
Ship Vibration & Noise, Wuhan 430033, China
Open Access. © 2021 G.-M. Xu and C.-G. Shuai, published by De Gruyter.
Attribution 4.0 License
1 Introduction
Fiber reinforced rubber pipes are widely used to transport
fluid at locations requiring flexible connection in pipeline
system. They protect the pipeline from damage caused by
mechanical vibration and shock, proved extremely useful
in marine engineering. The pipes are composed of inner rub-
ber layer, reinforced layer and outer rubber layer, as shown
in Figure 1. The reinforced layer is fabricated by multi-layer
helically wound unidirectional fabric. With the develop-
ment of vibration isolation technology for marine engineer-
ing, the vibration isolation performance of the float raft
system has been greatly improved in recent years. Instead,
the propagation of vibration along the pipeline system has
been increasingly prominent, becoming one of the key chal-
lenges for vibration control of ships [1]. The spherical self-
balancing rubber pipes with low stiffness are drawing at-
tention because of their good vibration suppression perfor-
mance under high internal pressure in pipeline systems. In
practical applications, rubber pipes are required to be self-
balancing under internal pressure. A rubber pipe with poor
balance will produce additional deformation and unbal-
anced force, damaging the pipelines connected upstream
and downstream under high internal pressure. Therefore,
the stiffness characteristics of spherical fiber reinforced
rubber pipes with good balance needs to be carefully inves-
tigated.
Figure 1: The cross-section of the fiber reinforced rubber pipe.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
 Axial and lateral stiffness of spherical self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes | 97

The stiffness of fiber reinforced pipes has been inves- anisotropy of the reinforced layer on the spherical pipes.
tigated in depth. Jaszak et al. [2] analyzed the stress distri- Thirdly, the variance of the elastic modulus of the reinforce
bution of rubber pipes under internal pressure with finite fiber is not negligible when the rubber pipe is subject to dif-
element analysis based on the Mooney-Rivlin model of the ferent internal pressure. Rao et al. [13] and Kumar et al. [14]
rubber material, concluding that the influence of elastic found that the reinforced fiber has a nonlinear stress-strain
properties of the rubber layer on the stress distribution is relationship in cord/rubber composites. In the stage with
negligible. Therefore, the stiffness is mainly determined small strain, the elastic modulus of the fiber changes with
by the geometry of the rubber pipes and the anisotropy the strain. In the stage with intermediate strain, the elastic
of the reinforced layer. The axial stiffness of cylindrical modulus tends to be constant. It could bring extra error in
self-balancing rubber pipes was investigated based on the the theoretical model without considering the nonlinear
anisotropic shell theory [3, 4]. Zhou et al. [5] calculated stress-strain relationship of the reinforced fiber.
the axial stiffness of spherical rubber pipe based on the
thin shell theory, but did not consider the anisotropy of
the reinforced layer on the stiffness characteristics. Gao et
al. [6] established the axial stiffness model of spherical self-
balancing rubber pipes based on anisotropic membrane
theory, considering the winding angle variance of rubber
pipes under high internal pressure. It should be noted that
the balance of pipes could be achieved by specific winding
angle of the unidirectional fabric. The self-balancing an-
gle of cylindrical pipes is near 55 degrees [7–9], while the Figure 2: The curing process of spherical fiber reinforced rubber
self-balancing angle of spherical pipes is determined by the pipes.
geometry of the pipe [10]. A number of investigations paid
attention to the lateral stiffness of fiber reinforced pipes
In this paper, the axial stiffness and lateral stiffness of
under internal pressure. Chen et al. [11] studied the lateral
spherical self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes are in-
stiffness of rubber pipes with an equivalent beam model
vestigated based on the anisotropic membrane theory and
fixed at both ends. Rafiee et al. [12] established theoretical
the composite Timoshenko beam theory, respectively. The
model to estimate the lateral stiffness of fiber reinforced
inhomogeneous anisotropy of the reinforced layer and the
rubber pipes based on the back-of-envelope technique.
nonlinear stress-strain relationship of the fiber are consid-
As already known from the research above mentioned,
ered in the theoretical model. The key structural parameters
the stiffness of fiber reinforced rubber pipes has gained
of the spherical pipe are the axial length, the circumferen-
sufficient attention. However, the stiffness of the spherical
tial radius at the ends, the meridional radius and the initial
self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes needs deeper
winding angle. Influences of these parameters on the dis-
investigations. Firstly, the comprehensive research on both
tribution of winding angle, the anisotropy of the reinforced
the axial stiffness and the lateral stiffness is deficient. Re-
layer, the axial stiffness and the lateral stiffness are investi-
ducing the axial stiffness alone will cause the rise of the
gated in detail. The calculated results of the axial stiffness
lateral stiffness possibly and vice versa. To improve the
and the lateral stiffness are in good agreement with the
vibration suppression performance of the rubber pipes,
experiment results, proving the accuracy of the theoretical
the axial stiffness and lateral stiffness are supposed to be
model. To improve the vibration suppression performance,
optimized together. Secondly, most research is limited to
the stiffness characteristics are optimized with adjusting
cylindrical fiber reinforced pipes. For spherical pipes, the
the meridional radius and the initial winding angle. The
anisotropy distribution of the reinforced layer is more com-
investigation methods and results presented in this paper
plicated. The spherical fiber reinforced rubber pipes are
will provide guidance for design of fiber reinforced rubber
manufactured with the curing process, as shown in Fig-
pipes in the future.
ure 2. The reinforced layer is fabricated with unidirectional
fabric cross winding helically at a specific initial winding
angle before the rubber pipes expanded to the preset shape.
The winding angle is determined by the meridian shape
on the spherical pipes, while the winding angle is homo-
geneous on the cylindrical pipes. Therefore, the nonlin-
ear distribution of winding angle leads to inhomogeneous
98 | G.-M. Xu and C.-G. Shuai

where Q̄ kij represent the off-axis stiffness coefficients of the

2 Theoretical analysis kth lamina, which are written as
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
k k k k k
2.1 Material model of the reinforced layer Q̄11 Q̄12 Q̄16 Q11 Q12 0
0 ⎦ TTk (3)
⎢ k k k ⎥=T ⎢ k k
⎣Q̄12 Q̄22 Q̄26 k ⎣ Q 12 Q22
⎥
⎦
k k k k
The geometric model of the spherical pipe is shown in Fig- Q̄16 Q̄26 Q̄66 0 0 Q66
ure 3. A curvilinear coordinate system (α, β, 𝛾 ) and a Carte-
sian coordinate system (x, y, z) are established. The ge- where Q kij represent the material constants of the kth or-
ometry of the spherical pipe is simply determined by the thotropic lamina. The fiber coordinates of the lamina are
structure vector H = [L, r, R α , θ0 ]T , where L, r, R α and written as 1 and 2, where direction 1 is parallel to the fibers
θ0 represents the axial length, the circumferential radius and 2 is perpendicular to them. The Q kij are defined as
at the end, the meridional radius, and the initial winding
k E1k k E2k
angle, respectively. Q11 = , Q22 = (4)
k µk
1 − µ12 k µk
1 − µ12
21 21
k
k µ12 E1k k k
Q12 = k µk
, Q66 = G12
1 − µ12 21

where E1k and E2k are elasticity modulus of the kth lamina in
k
the 1 and 2 directions, respectively; G12 is shear modulus
k k
and µ12 is the major Poisson’s ratio. µ21 is determined by
k
the equation µ21 E2k = µ12
k
E1k . The transformation matrix T k
is
⎡ ⎤
cos2 θ sin2 θ −2 sin θ cos θ
T = ⎣ sin2 θ cos2 θ 2 sin θ cos θ ⎦ (5)
⎢ ⎥
(a) (b)
2 2
sin θ cos θ − sin θ cos θ cos θ − sin θ
Figure 3: The geometric model of the spherical pipe. (a) The curvilin-
ear coordinate system and the Cartesian coordinate system. (b) The where winding angle θ is the angle between direction 1 of
structural parameters of the spherical pipe. the fiber and the direction α of the curvilinear coordinate
system, as shown in Figure 3.
The single-layer cord/rubber lamina can be regarded as
orthotropic material [15]. The equivalent elastic constants
of the lamina can be obtained with the following equa-
tions [16]
⎧
⎪
⎪ E1 = E c V c + E r (1 − V c )
⎪
⎪
⎨E2 = E r (1 + 2V c )/(1 − V c )
⎪
⎪
⎪
µ12 = µ c V c + µ r (1 − V c ) (1)
⎪ Figure 4: The winding angle of the reinforced layer.
µ21 = µ12 EE12
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
G12 = G r GG c +G r +(G c −G r )V c
⎪
⎩
+G −(G −G )V
c r c r c
The anisotropy of the reinforced layer are closely re-
where Ec and Er are the Elastic modulus of the cord and lated to the local winding angle of the fabric. Although
rubber, respectively; µ c and µ r are the Poisson’s ratios of the initial winding angle is uniform, the winding angle of
the cord and rubber, respectively; G c and G r is the shear expanded reinforced layer keeps changing at different posi-
modulus of the cord and rubber, respectively; V c is the tions along the meridional direction. For the curing process,
volume fraction of cord. The stress-strain relations of the the following two assumptions are proposed:
kth lamina in the reinforced layer are written as [17]
(1) The cords of the fabric is not stretched during the
curing process;
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤
k k k
σα Q̄11 Q̄12 Q̄16 εα
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ k
⎣ σ β ⎦ = ⎣Q̄12 k
Q̄22 k ⎥⎢
Q̄26 ⎦ ⎣ εβ ⎦
⎥
(2) (2) Both ends of the pipe do not rotate relatively to each
τ αβ k k
Q̄16 Q̄26 Q̄66 k
𝛾αβ other during the curing process.
k k
 Axial and lateral stiffness of spherical self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes | 99

Supposing the initial winding angle is θ0 , the geometric along the axial direction when the initial winding angle
relationship established based on the assumptions above- and axial length increase, and when the circumferential
mentioned are written as radius at the end and the meridional radius decrease.
dy R α dα ⎪
⎫ The stress-strain relationship is used to obtain the elas-
= tic constant along the axial direction of the rubber pipe:
cos θ0 cos θ ⎬
⎪
(6)
tan θ0 R α tan θ ⎪
dz = dα⎪ Q̄11 Q̄22 −Q̄212
⎧
r R β sin α
⎭ ⎪E α =
⎪
⎪ Q̄22
⎨E = Q̄11 Q̄22 −Q̄212
⎪
⎪
β
where R β represents the circumferential radius, as shown Q̄11 (8)
in Figure 3. The distribution of the winding angle θ along ⎪µ αβ = Q̄Q̄12
⎪
⎪
⎪ 11
⎪
the meridional direction derived from equations (6) is ⎩
G αβ = Q̄66
R β sin θ0 The distribution of the elastic constants is shown in
(︂ )︂
θ = arcsin sin α (7)
r Figure 6a. At any position of the pipe, the shear modulus is
greater than the meridional and latitudinal elastic modu-
The structure vector H has significant influence on the
lus. At the center of the joint, the meridional elastic modu-
distribution of winding angle. Figure 5 shows that the wind-
lus reaches the minimum value, while the latitudinal elas-
ing angle of cord fabric will become more non-uniform
tic modulus reaches a maximum value. Figure 6b shows
the relative variance of the elastic constants with differ-
ent winding angle. The off-axis elastic constants reduce to
the orthotropic properties when the winding angle equals
0 degree and 90 degrees. The shear modulus reaches the
maximum when the winding angle equals 45 degrees. The
stiffness matrix of the 1500D/3-type aramid cords is used
in the theoretical calculation, written as follows [15].
⎡ ⎤
17.8E9 7.06E6 0
Q = ⎣7.06E6 13.3E6 0 ⎦ (9)
⎢ ⎥
0 0 2.76E6

Figure 6: (a) Distribution of elastic constants with the structure

vector H = [0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 40]. (b) The elastic constants at variant
winding angle.

The rubber pipes are reinforced by multi-layer fabric.

Based on the composite Reissner shell theory, the stiffness
matrix of the reinforced layer is
[︃ ]︃ [︃ ]︃ [︃ ]︃
N A B ε0
= (10)
M B D κ
Figure 5: Distribution of winding angle at different H. The initial
structure vector H 0 = [0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 40]: (a) varied initial winding where N and M are the inplane force and bending moment,
angles θ0 ; (b) varied axial lengths L; (c) varied circumferential respectively; ϵ0 is the strain in the midsurface of the re-
radius at the ends r; (d) varied meridional radius R α . inforced layer; κ is the curvature and torsion ratio of the
100 | G.-M. Xu and C.-G. Shuai

midsurface. Each sub-matrix of the stiffness matrix is de- The equilibrium equations [17] are
fined as [18]
∂ ∂B ∂A
⎫
(BN α ) − Nβ + N αβ ⎪
n ∂α ∂α ∂β
⎧ ⎪
⎪
∑︀ ⎪
⎪A ij =
⎪ (Q̄ ij )k (z k − z k−1 ) ⎪
⎪
∂
⎪ ⎪
⎪
k=1
⎪
+ (AN αβ ) + ABq α = 0⎪
⎪ ⎪
n
⎪
∂β
⎨ ⎪
B ij = 12 (Q̄ ij )k (z2k − z2k−1 )
∑︀ ⎪
(11)
⎪
⎬
k=1 ∂ ∂A ∂B (15)
(AN β ) − Nα + N ⎪
⎪
⎪
n
∂α αβ ⎪
⎪
⎩D ij = 13
⎪
⎪
⎪ ∑︀
(Q̄ ij )k (z3k − z3k−1 ) ∂β ∂β ⎪
⎪
⎪
k=1 ∂ ⎪
+ (BN αβ ) + ABq β = 0⎪
⎪
⎪
∂α ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
k α N α + k β N β − q𝛾 = 0
⎭
2.2 Analysis of the axial stiffness
The spherical pipe is an axisymmetric shell of revolu-
The inplane force is defined as tion, so the coefficients in equations (14) and (15) are
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤ ⎫
Nα A11 A12 A16 εα A = Rα ⎪
⎪
3
⎪
⎣ N β ⎦ = ⎣A12 A22 A26 ⎦ ⎣ ε β ⎦ δ + o(δ ) (12) B = R β sin α⎪
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
N αβ A16 A26 A66 ε αβ 1 ⎪
⎪
kα =
⎪
⎪
⎪
Rα ⎬
where δ is the thickness of the reinforced layer. Under the 1 ⎪ (16)
assumption of thin shell theory, the thickness of the re- kβ = ⎪
Rβ ⎪
⎪
⎪
inforced layer is a small quantity, so the terms related to
⎪
⎪
⎪
q α = 0⎪
⎪
thickness are considered as high-order small quantities
⎪
⎪
⎪
q𝛾 = p
⎭
and are negligible in equation (12). Without considering
the bending moment and shear force, the geometric equa- where p is internal pressure. It is assumed that all the con-
tion is simplified as follows [17] straints and external loads are axisymmetric, and then for
1 ∂u ∂A v
⎫ any point of the pipe, the equilibrium equation is estab-
εα = + + k α w⎪
A ∂α ∂β AB lished in the meridional direction as follows
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
1 ∂v ∂B u
⎬
εβ = + + kβ w (13) 1 Fy
B ∂β ∂α AB Nα = pR + (17)
⎪
⎪
⎪ 2 β 2πR β sin2 α
A ∂ u B ∂ v ⎪ ⎪
ε αβ = ( )+ ( )⎪ ⎭
B ∂β A A ∂α B The axial stiffness of the deformation of joint body is
determined by the relationship between F y and the axial
where A, B are lamé parameters and k α , k β are principal cur-
deformation y. Combining equations (14), (15) and (17), the
vature of the midsurface. Combining equations (12) and (13),
solutions of internal force and displacement are obtained
yields
as follows
⃒ ⃒⎫
⃒N
⃒ α A12 ⃒ ⎪ 1 Fy
⃒ ⎫
N α = pR β +
⎪
⎪ ⎪
2 2
1 ⃒ N β A22 ⃒ ⎪
⃒ ⃒⎪ ⎪
1 ∂u ∂A v
⎪ 2πR β sin α ⎪⎪
+ + kα w = ⃒
⎪ ⎪
⃒⎪ ⎪
A ∂α ∂β AB δ ⃒⃒A
⎪ ⎪
2
pR β
⎪
A
⎪
Fy
⃒⎪ ⎪
11 12 ⃒ ⎪ ⎪
N β = pR β − −
⎪ ⎪
⃒⎪ ⎪
⃒A12 A22 ⃒ ⎪ 2
⃒
2R α 2πR α sin α ⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
⃒ ⃒⎪ ⎪ ⎪
⎪
u = C1 sin α⎪
⃒A ⎬ ⎪
⃒ 11 N α ⃒
⃒
(14)
⎪
⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⎪ ⎪
1 ⃒A12 N β ⃒ ⎪
⃒ ⃒⎪ ⃒N ⎪
1 ∂v ∂B u A A N
⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⎪
⃒ α 12 ⃒ ⃒ 11 α⃒
⎪
+ + kβ w = ⃒ −
⎪
R R
⎪
⃒⎪⎪ α α β
⎪
⎬
B ∂β ∂α AB δ ⃒⃒A N β A22 A12 N β
⃒⎪ ∫︁ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒
A sin α (18)
⎪
11 12 ⃒ ⎪
⎪ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒ ⃒
⃒⎪ + ⃒ ⃒ dα⎪
⃒A12 A22 ⃒ ⎪ δ
⃒ ⎪ ⃒A
⃒ 11 A12 ⃒
⎪ ⃒ ⎪
⎪
⃒ sin α
⎪ π
⎪
2 −φ
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
N ⃒A12 A22 ⃒
⃒
A ∂ u B ∂ v
⎪ ⎪
αβ ⎪
⎪ ⎪
( )+ ( )= ⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎭ ⎪
B ∂β A A ∂α B A66 δ ⃒
⃒A
⃒ ⎪
⎪
⃒ 11 N α ⃒
⃒ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
A N
⃒ ⃒ ⎪
Rβ ⃒ 12 β ⃒ ⎪
⎪
w= − u cot α⎪
⎪
⃒ ⃒
δ ⃒⃒A
⎪
⎪
11 A12 ⃒ ⃒ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⃒A12 A22 ⃒
⃒ ⃒ ⎭
 Axial and lateral stiffness of spherical self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes | 101

where C1 is an integral constant determined by boundary cord with the cord stress. The distribution of stress in the
conditions. The boundary condition is reinforced layer is
π⎫
pR β ⎪
⎫
u = 0, while α = ⎬
2 (19) σα = ⎪
2δ ⎪
⎪
π ⎪
u = −y cos α, while α = − φ⎭
⎬
2 R β p(2R α − R β ) (21)
σβ =
2δR α
⎪
Substituting equations (18) into equation (19) yields the
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
force-displacement relationship for the axial deformation: τ αβ = 0⎭

Fy = (20) With the formula of off-axis stress, the stress along the
∫︀ π A11 R3β +2(A12 −A11 )R2β R α +(A22 −2A12 )R β R2α direction of cords σ1 is obtained as follows:
2πδy − πp π
2
(A11 A22 −A212 ) sin α
dα
2 −φ
∫︀ π A11 R2β +A22 R2α +2A12 R α R β σ1 = σ α cos2 θ + σ β sin2 θ (22)
π
2
(A11 A22 −A212 )R β sin3 α
dα
2 −φ

The influences of structural parameters are then com-
puted on the axial stiffness, as shown in Figure 7. The axial
stiffness will increase significantly when the initial winding
angle increases, the meridional radius increases, the axial
length decreases, and the circumferential radius at the end
increases.
where θ is the winding angle of cords. The elastic modu-
lus of cords under different stresses can be obtained by
processing the measured force-displacement data of cords.
Substituting this elastic modulus into the theoretical model
of stiffness yields the stiffness characteristics of the rubber
pipe under different internal pressures.

2.3 Analysis of the lateral stiffness

Based on the Timoshenko beam theory, a model is estab-

lished to calculate the lateral stiffness of the spherical fiber
reinforced pipes. The deflection equation of beam is [19]
M aq
w′′ = − − (23)
EI GA
where a is the shear coefficient, q is the load, EI is the bend-
ing stiffness, and GA is the shear stiffness. The thickness
of the tube is thinner than that of the inner diameter, so
the shear stress is approximately uniformly distributed in
the thickness direction, and the shear coefficient a equals
1. According to Shadmehri et al. [20], the bending stiffness
of a composite pipe is
N
π ∑︁ 4
⟨EI ⟩ = (R o,n − R4i,n )E n (24)
4
n=1

where R o,n and R i,n are the outer diameter and inner diam-
eter of the nth layer of fiber, respectively; En is the axial
Figure 7: Axial stiffness at different H, and the initial structure elastic modulus of the nth layer, and can be calculated as
vector H 0 = [0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 40]: (a) varied initial winding angle θ0 ;
follows:
(b) varied meridional radii R α ; (c) varied axial lengths L; (d) varied A11 A12 − A212
circumferential radii at the ends r. En = (︀ )︀ (25)
A22 R o,n − R i,n
The influences of the initial winding angle and the
Aramid fiber is generally used as the cord material for meridional radius are analyzed on the spatial distributions
large-diameter rubber pipes resistant to high pressure. The of bending stiffness and shear stiffness, as shown in Fig-
elastic modulus of aramid fiber has strong nonlinearity ure 8. When the initial winding angle is 43 degree, the bend-
even in the low-stress stage, so it is necessary to experimen- ing stiffness and shear stiffness reach their minimum and
tally obtain the variation of the elastic modulus of aramid maximum values, respectively.
102 | G.-M. Xu and C.-G. Shuai

solution of deflection. Based on the definition of central

difference, the difference equation deflection curve is ob-
tained:
w i+1 − 2w i + w i−1 M qi
=− i − (26)
h2 ⟨EI ⟩i ⟨GA⟩i

where h is the length step of difference. In this paper, the

influences of structural parameters are analyzed on the
lateral stiffness of a rubber pipe with Clamped-Clamped
boundary condition, and the calculated results are shown
in Figure 9. The result reveals that the lateral stiffness will
significantly decrease when the winding angle and axial
length increase and the circumferential radius decreases.

2.4 The self-balance of spherical fiber

reinforced rubber pipes
Figure 8: For an initial structure vector H 0 = [0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 40], a)
distribution of bending stiffness at different θ0; b) distribution of
shear stiffness at different θ0 ; c) distribution of bending stiffness A rubber pipe used in ship pipeline systems is required
at different meridional radii; d) distribution of shear stiffness at to have good self-balance; otherwise, when the internal
different meridional radii. pressure changes, the pipe will produce additional defor-
mation and may damage the connected pipeline or equip-
ment. Self-balance is evaluated by the following indexes:
1) unbalanced displacement, which is defined as the ratio
of length change under the working pressure when both
ends are free; 2) unbalanced force: the reaction force under
the working pressure when both ends are fixed. The meth-
ods are derived for solving the ratio of length change and
reaction force:
(1) When both ends are free, calculate the ratio of length
change under the working pressure. Based on the
geometric relationship, the axial deformation y of
joint body is calculated as follows:
⃒
u ⃒
⃒
y=− (27)
sin α ⃒ π
⃒
α= −φ
⃒ 2 ⃒ ⃒ ⃒
⃒N
⃒ α A12 ⃒
⃒A
⃒ 11 N α ⃒
⃒ ⃒
π
∫︁2 R α ⃒⃒ N ⃒ − Rβ ⃒
A22 ⃒ ⃒A12 N β ⃒
⃒
β
= ⃒ ⃒ dα
⃒A A12 ⃒⃒
11
π
2 −φ δ sin α ⃒
⃒
⃒A12 A22 ⃒
⃒

Figure 9: Lateral stiffness at different H, and the initial structure
vector H 0 = [0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 40]: (a) varied initial winding angles θ0 ;
(b) varied meridional radii R α ; (c) varied axial lengths L; (d) varied
circumferential radii at the ends r.
Because of the non-uniformity of the distribution of
(2) When both ends of the pipe are clamped, the unbal-
bending stiffness and shear stiffness, the equation is trans-
formed into a difference equation to obtain the numerical
It is combined with equation (20), and let the external
force in the axial direction F y equal 0, and then the
ratio of length change can be calculated:
2y
η= (28)
L
anced force is calculated under the working pressure.
In formula (20), let the axial deformation y be equal
 Axial and lateral stiffness of spherical self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes | 103

to 0, and the reaction force can be obtained when

both ends of the pipe body are fixed:
∫︀ π A11 R3β +2(A12 −A11 )R2β R α +(A22 −2A12 )R β R2α
−πp π
2
(A11 A22 −A212 ) sin α
dα
2 −φ
Fy = ∫︀ π A11 R2β +A22 R2α +2A12 R α R β
π
2
(A11 A22 −A212 )R β sin3 α
dα
2 −φ

(29)

The approach of stiffness calculation of self-

balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes is summa-
rized in a flow chart in Figure 10. (a)

(b)

Figure 10: The approach of stiffness calculation of self-balancing

fiber reinforced rubber pipes.

(c)

3 Experiment results
Experiments are conducted to obtain the variation of the
elastic modulus of aramid cord with the cord stress in sec-
tion 3.1, because the elastic modulus of aramid fiber has
strong nonlinearity even in the low-stress stage. The axial
and lateral stiffness of four types of spherical self-balancing
rubber pipes are also measured in section 3.2, and the mea-
sured results are compared with the resulted calculated
(d)
with the proposed model.
There are four types of self-balanced spherical rubber Figure 11: (a) Experimental systems used to measure the axial and
pipes with different specifications but the same rated work- lateral stiffness; (b) tensile test of aramid cords; (c) axial stiffness
test; (d) lateral stiffness test.
ing pressure of 3.0MPa. The main structural parameters are
shown in Table 1, and the model of test device and the test
layout are shown in Table 2 and Figure 10, respectively.
104 | G.-M. Xu and C.-G. Shuai

Table 1: Parameters of the tested rubber pipes. 3.2 Axial and lateral stiffness of the rubber
pipes
model L (mm) r (mm) R α (mm) θ0 ()
DN50 83 32 82 36 The aforementioned stiffness model is used to derive the
DN100 127 59 125 38 axial and lateral stiffness of rubber pipes with four different
DN125 95 71 93 40 sizes, and the results are shown in Figure 13a and Figure 13b.
DN150 102 84 100 39 The theoretical results are in good agreement with the ex-
perimental results, suggesting that the stiffness model ob-
Table 2: Experimental device list. tained in this paper can accurately describe the axial and
lateral stiffness of the rubber pipes.
Device Model
Mechanical test system MTS landmark 370.50
Water pump 40sy-15/80
Pressure gauge ACD-201
Accumulator NXQAB-80-10-L-Y

3.1 The elastic modulus of aramid cord

Table 3 shows the properties of the aramid cords used in the

research. Based on the measured data of tensile test, the (a)
fitting results of the elastic modulus of cord are obtained
with the least square method and are shown in Figure 12.
When the cord strain is less than 0.01, the elastic modulus
increases with the increase of the strain; when the strain is
greater than 0.01, the elastic modulus becomes linear.

Table 3: Properties of cord/rubber layer.

Component Property
Material Aramid
(b)
Cord Construction 1140D/2
Diameter 0.8 mm Figure 13: (a) Calculated and measured axial stiffness vs internal
E1 21 GPa pressure; (b) calculated and measured lateral stiffness vs internal
Rubber Elastic modulus 6 MPa pressure.
Cord/Rubber Layer Thickness 1.1 mm

Figure 12: The stress-strain relationship of 1140D/2 aramid cords.
4 Discussion
The experimental result in Figure 13 suggests that the lat-
eral stiffness is larger than the axial stiffness of the tested
rubber pipes. In order to reduce the lateral stiffness with-
out causing a significant increase in the axial stiffness, the
meridional radius and initial cord-winding angle are varied
simultaneous in the theoretical while the self-balance of
the rubber pipe is maintained. The problem is to reduce the
maximum stiffness of the rubber pipe (i.e. the larger value
in the axial stiffness and lateral stiffness) under the follow-
ing conditions: 1) the internal pressure is kept at 3.0MPa;
 Axial and lateral stiffness of spherical self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes | 105

2) the variation of the axial length of joint body is less than

1%; 3) the unbalance force is less than the external axial
force required to produce 1% change in the axial length.
The constraints of optimization are summarized as
⎧
⎪
⎪
⎪ Φ = minimize(k axial &k lateral )
⎪
⎨p = 3.0MPa
⎪
(30)
⎪
⎪
⎪ η(R α , θ0 ) < 0.01
⎪
⎩∆F(R α , θ ) < ηLk
⎪
0 axial

where Φ is the objective function of the optimization, k axial

represents the axial stiffness and k lateral represents the lat-
eral stiffness.
Table 4 shows the results of structural-parameter op-
timization, Table 5 compares the results obtained before
and after stiffness optimization, and Figure 14 shows the
calculated variations of axial and lateral stiffness with dif-
ferent meridional radius. The data in Table 4 reveals that Figure 14: a) Calculated stiffness vs meridional radius of DN50; b)
the optimization of structural parameters does not affect calculated stiffness vs meridional radius of DN100; c) calculated
the self-balance of the original rubber pipes. The results in stiffness vs meridional radius of DN125; d) calculated stiffness vs
meridional radius of DN150.
Figure 14 suggest that the optimal meridional radius and
initial winding angle can be obtained through simultane-
ous adjustment of both parameters. The result in Table 5
suggests that the lateral stiffness can be reduced by 19.5%
5 Conclusion
with the optimal structural parameters.
The theoretical model is proposed to calculate the axial
stiffness and the lateral stiffness of spherical self-balancing
Table 4: Optimized parameters of rubber pipes. fiber reinforced rubber pipes. The accuracy of the theoreti-
cal model is verified by the experiment of axial stiffness and
Model L, mm r, mm R α , mm θ0 , ∆F, N
lateral stiffness. The theoretical calculation finds that both
DN50 83 32 85 36.8 −24.8 the axial and lateral stiffness are influenced significantly by
DN100 127 59 135 38.6 −100.1 the key structural parameters of the pipe (the axial length,
DN125 95 71 175 44.1 136.4 the circumferential radius at the end, the meridional radius,
DN150 102 83 133 42.6 59.4 and the initial winding angle). The stiffness of the spherical
self-balancing fiber reinforced rubber pipes has a remark-
able decrease with optimal meridional radius and initial
winding angle without any side effect on the self-balance.
Table 5: Optimization results of axial and lateral stiffness. The investigation methods and results presented in this
paper will provide guidance for design of fiber reinforced
model Original Optimized Reduction rubber pipes in the future.
Stiffness, Stiffness, rate of
kN/mm kN/mm lateral
Axial Flexural Axial Flexural stiffness
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